"What do you think?" Hatake Ziyan teased.
"Impossible! My father is Konoha's White Fang! No one could kill him! Tell me! Who sent you?" Kakashi demanded, beginning to panic.
"Konoha's White Fang? He's nothing but trash before me, the Sword God!" Hatake Ziyan said with a shrug.
"Bastard! I won't let you get away with this!" Kakashi charged at him.
He rushed up to Hatake Ziyan and thrust his blade at his stomach.
With a casual sweep, Hatake Ziyan parried Kakashi's thrust, then struck the back of Kakashi's sword hand with the spine of his blade.
The pain made Kakashi release his grip, and the Short Blade fell to the ground with a clatter.
"Little Kakashi, if you want to master the blade, remember this: even if you die, you must never let go of your sword!" Hatake Ziyan lectured.
"You're not fit to teach me!" Kakashi rapidly formed hand seals and shouted, "Lightning Release: Earth Flow!"
Once he finished the seals, Kakashi slapped both hands against the ground. Several streaks of lightning instantly raced across the earth toward Hatake Ziyan.
Hatake Ziyan stood without moving, letting the electricity flow through his body.
"Mmm! Just right. That feels good!" Hatake Ziyan said, stretching his limbs.
"What? Impossible! Are you even human?" Hatake Ziyan's response left Kakashi dumbfounded. This was the first time he had ever seen someone take a ninjutsu attack without resisting and emerge completely unscathed. It was beyond anything he knew.
"Kakashi! What are you doing? That's your Grandpa Ziyan!" Hearing the commotion outside, Hatake Sakumo opened the door just in time to see Kakashi's ninjutsu strike Hatake Ziyan. "Uncle Ziyan, Kakashi is still young and doesn't know any better. Please don't hold it against him!"
"Grandpa Ziyan?" Kakashi muttered in bewilderment.
"It's fine. I was just testing the boy's strength!" Hatake Ziyan put away his sword and waved it off. "But you're a little too gentle when teaching your son! He's nowhere near as strong as you were at his age!"
"Father!" Kakashi hurried over to Sakumo and bowed. "Father, are you all right? Isn't this man here to kill you?"
Thump! Sakumo struck Kakashi hard on the head with his fist. "Why wouldn't I be all right? And why would Uncle Ziyan kill me? He's the former Clan Leader of our Hatake Clan!"
"Huh? He's our Hatake Clan Leader? Why have I never seen him before? And he looks younger than you! How could he be the former Clan Leader?" Kakashi asked, staring at Hatake Ziyan's youthful face in confusion.
Hatake Sakumo felt Kakashi's words were somewhat rude, but they also voiced his own thoughts. Ever since he had met this uncle of his as a child, the man's appearance had not changed in the slightest.
"All right! Stop wondering. It's because I practice the Yin Seal. Now give me a room to rest in. I've been traveling for days, and I need some sleep!" Hatake Ziyan explained why his appearance had remained unchanged.
After showing Hatake Ziyan to a bedroom, Hatake Sakumo withdrew.
Kakashi then went to find Hatake Sakumo.
"Father, why have I never heard you mention this Grandpa Ziyan? Is he really strong?" Kakashi asked his father.
"Half the credit for your being able to live in a peaceful village today belongs to Uncle Ziyan! So what do you think? Is he strong?" Hatake Sakumo explained.
"Father, you're lying! Our Konoha was founded by the First Hokage, and people called him the God of Shinobi! How could he possibly have needed anyone else's help?" Kakashi argued, drawing on what he had learned at the Ninja Academy.
"That's right! Lord First truly was the God of Shinobi! But Uncle Ziyan was known as the Sword God. Alongside Lord First and Madara Uchiha, he was hailed as one of the Three Great Heroes of the Warring States!" Hatake Sakumo said, recalling the past.
"Who's Madara Uchiha? Father, you can't fool me. Aside from Lord First Hokage, neither of those two people ever came up in my Shinobi World history classes!" Kakashi wore an expression that said he wasn't about to be fooled just because he was a child.
"Let me put it this way! Before any of the Five Great Nations established their ninja villages, in the era people called the Warring States,
the two most powerful clans in the Land of Fire were the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan. Our Lord First was the Senju Clan's last Clan Leader during the Warring States period, while the Uchiha Clan's last Clan Leader in that era was Madara Uchiha!
Back then, the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan each controlled roughly half the Land of Fire. The Ino-Shika-Cho Clans, the Sarutobi, the Shimura, and the other clans you know today were all vassals of the Senju Clan! The Uchiha likewise had many ninja clans serving under them!
So do you think Madara Uchiha, the leader of the Uchiha Clan who could stand against Lord First, could possibly have been weak?"
After listening to Hatake Sakumo, Kakashi shook his head. "Even if what you're saying is true, and this Madara Uchiha really was powerful, that still has nothing to do with this Uncle Ziyan, does it?"
Hatake Sakumo smacked Kakashi on the head again. "What's the rush? I haven't finished!
During the Warring States period, our Hatake Clan had very few members. Compared with those great ninja clans, we probably had fewer people than even one of their branches. Still, while we were few in number, we were fairly strong, so we managed to get by.
But as the war between the Senju and the Uchiha grew fiercer, both clans kept bringing smaller ninja clans under their control to bolster their strength. The Uchiha set their sights on our Hatake Clan.
Our Hatake Clan was powerless against the mighty Uchiha, but we couldn't stomach the way the Uchiha Clan treated others. After discussing it with the Council of Elders, the Clan Leader at the time decided to divide our clan into two groups. One joined the Senju Clan, while the other fled to the Land of Iron for refuge. Uncle Ziyan was the son of the Clan Leader at the time, and he became the Clan Leader of the branch that went to the Land of Iron!
After Uncle Ziyan led his people to settle in the Land of Iron, he heard that his father had been gravely wounded by the Uchiha Grand Elder. He returned to the Land of Fire alone and began his hunt.
In just one year, Uncle Ziyan killed four or five thousand ninja from the Uchiha Allied Forces. Among them were several Clan Leader-level fighters, equivalent to Hokage-level fighters today. He even killed the Uchiha Grand Elder on the battlefield in a direct confrontation, shocking everyone. And because Uncle Ziyan came back from every battle drenched in blood, people also called him the Blood-Colored Swordsman.
Later, to stop Uncle Ziyan's hunt and avenge their Grand Elder, Madara Uchiha fought a great battle with him. No one knew who won or lost. All anyone knew was that after that battle, Madara Uchiha publicly declared that the Uchiha Clan would no longer be enemies of the Hatake Clan!"
Before you continue